Designer Homes

[Hummingbird]

We will be purchasing a new designer home. Some of the popular ones mentioned in TOTV are, The Gardenia, Bridgeport, Iris and a few others but I haven't seen anything on "The Holly" Does anyone own that model?

What are some of the features you like or dislike about that model home?

[Tom Hannon]

We will be purchasing a new designer home. Some of the popular ones mentioned in TOTV are, The Gardenia, Bridgeport, Iris and a few others but I haven't seen anything on "The Holly" Does anyone own that model?

What are some of the features you like or dislike about that model home?

What I like about the Iris over the Gardenia is the Iris has a closet as you enter the front door. ((A closet to put stuff. guest coats, brooms, van cleaners..etc) The Iris also has a larger laundry room where my wife has a small desk and a cat box.

The disadvantage of the Iris over Gardenia is- The kitchen is toward the back while the Gardeniais in front of house. With the Iris you can't see if anything is happening in front of your house.

[jojoin]

The Holly has one of the nicest large kitchens of the designer models, but the negative for us was it was too closed off from the living room. But, on the plus side, this design provides more usable space in the living room. It also has a nice built in desk area in the kitchen.
The lanai also seemed a little small. The front spare BR is a nice large size.

[llaran]

I believe all of the plans are on line at www.thevillages.com - Also, I have a kitchen in the front and would rather it in the back - easier for cooking out - think about it, I have to walk thru the whole house with the food.

[aljetmet]

The Holly has one of the nicest large kitchens of the designer models, but the negative for us was it was too closed off from the living room. But, on the plus side, this design provides more usable space in the living room. It also has a nice built in desk area in the kitchen.
The lanai also seemed a little small. The front spare BR is a nice large size.

Based on the floor plans I viewed the Holly and Bridgeport for that matter; both have an option A kitchen. It seems it opens up the kitchen to the living room. (knocks down half the wall the living room and kitchen share) I hope TV has models with this option so we can see it for ourselves or if a TOTVer has one, we'll be in TV in April!

[Hummingbird]

We check out quite a few models when were at TV in July. We narrowed it down to the Holly and the Bridgeport because they both had big kitchen (I like to cook) I like the idea of the little island in the middle. It's sort of a half way point to the stove, oven, sink and refrigerator.

They changed one of the models and made the wall smaller in the living room and it makes the kitchen look more open. That means loosing a cabinet in the kitchen area. The model home on TV site has the wider wall.

I like the Bridgeport because of the staggered kitchen cabinets but didn't want 3 bathrooms to clean. (I have 4 in my home now :-(. and I think 2 will be plenty.

I found the lanai to be a bit tiny but we can add 4 FT at time of construction.
Any pros and cons would be appreciated.

[rodie]

What about the Lantana? It seems to have a lot of options

[Mikitv]

The Bridgeport has the large kitchen also like the Holly. Nice Island and then the desk area in the kitchen. We like having the extra 1/2 bath. My only complaint is the laundry room could be a tad larger. We did change the area down by the desk in the kitchen. Since we didn't want a kitchen table in that area we added extra cabinets along the wall on the stove side and just below the windows by the desk. Lots more storage. You can never have enough storage especially since a lot of people have come from larger homes. Just my opinion.

[Hummingbird]

What about the Lantana? It seems to have a lot of options

I can't remember if our agent showed us the Lantana when we were there in July. I checked it out online and the lanai is a good size and your right, lot's of options. The only thing missing for me in the Lantana is the island in the kitchen and maybe bigger closets in the Holly. Food for thought...Thank You!

[Hummingbird]

The Bridgeport has the large kitchen also like the Holly. Nice Island and then the desk area in the kitchen. We like having the extra 1/2 bath. My only complaint is the laundry room could be a tad larger. We did change the area down by the desk in the kitchen. Since we didn't want a kitchen table in that area we added extra cabinets along the wall on the stove side and just below the windows by the desk. Lots more storage. You can never have enough storage especially since a lot of people have come from larger homes. Just my opinion.

I didn't know we had options. I asked our agent about making the island a bit longer and he said we couldn't do that. Then a asked if the light fixture could be moved over a bit because we wanted a drop leaf table closer to the window. He said the light fixture has to stay where it is but we could put a swag light so the light would be directly over the table.